Our Coaching Staff

We are proud of our highly qualified, USAG Safety Certified staff of team coaches. They are enthusiastic, dedicated educators with a strong commitment toward physical fitness and individual achievement.

Tatiana Kamarskaya (Owner, Recreational/Team Coach)

Tatiana Kamarskaya has over 30 years of highly successful coaching experience in the United States and in the former Soviet Union. Born in Kiev, Ukraine, Tatiana was a member of the Ukraine National Team, winner of the National Championship and prize holder of the USSR Acrobatics Championships. Four of her students in the USSR became Masters of Sport, two became International Masters of Sport and one of her students became a bronze medallist at the World Championships in France in 1992. Tatiana has received numerous invitations to teach clinics and choreograph gymnastics routines around the U.S. While on the West Coast, Tatiana conducted gymnastics clinics with Bela Karoli, Arthur Acopian and other successful coaches and gymnasts. Additionally, Tatiana is one of the founders and operators of Exxcel Gymnastics.

Gary Leykin (Owner, Recreational/Team Coach)

With over 30 years of coaching experience, Gary Leykin has a wealth of credentials in the field of gymnastics. His personal gymnastics achievements include being a Champion with the United Team of Belorussia, being a Youth Championship winner of the former USSR, and holder of the Honored Master Sport award (which is the highest level achievable in Soviet athletics). Following 17 years as coach/instructor, while serving as a regional board member of DINAMO in the USSR, Gary coached two students who qualified for membership on the 1986 USSR Olympic team. Upon coming to the United States, he was head coach of Spectrum Gymnastics in Brockton, MA for two years. During these years, he coached one student to qualify for the U.S. Junior National Team. In 1998, Gary opened Exxcel Gymnastics. Since, he has successfully developed one of the best boys’ gymnastics programs in Massachusetts.

Alex Toumilovich (Team Coach)

When Exxcel began operating in 1998, Alex was among the first staff members to join us as a team coach. He has achieved the highest level attainable as a gymnast in international men’s gymnastics, while competing for Belorussia. Alex was a member of the USSR National Team and was a European All-Around Bronze Medalist. As a coach, students received “Master of Sports” titles, a silver medal winner in the 1996 World Championships and two national champions. As an International Gymnastics Judge, Alex judged World Championships in 1994, Pre-Olympic Trials in 1995 and European Championships in 1994, 1996 and 1998.

Melissa McManus (Exxcel Team Director/Coach)

Melissa joined the Exxcel staff in 2001 teaching recreational gymnastics and has gone on to coach and help grow Exxcel’s team program. Melissa has been involved in competitive gymnastics for over 15 years both as a competitive gymnast and as a coach. Melissa is also trained in ballet and other forms of dance. Since then, Melissa has received a BS in Finance and Economics. Melissa has been the meet director of the Exxcel Beach Party for the past 8 years. She was the coach of the Wellesley High School Gymnastics team from 2008-2016 during which time they won 7 straight BSC Championships. Over the past few years, Melissa has coached many state, regional and national champions.

Edison Carvajal (Team Head Coach)

Edison is a former member of the Colombian National Gymnastics Team. He competed professionally for 8 years. He participated in many prestigious competitions including the South American Games, Pan American Championships, Bolivarian Countries Games and the World Championships in Anahaim, California. Edison has over 10 years experience as a Professional gymnastics recreational and competitive Coach.

Sasha Mishenina (Team Coach)

Sasha has been a member of the Exxcel Gymnastics and Climbing staff since 2012. She was a member of the USSR’s junior national team, winning numerous medals in the all-around event at competitions throughout the Ukraine. Sasha was a cheerleader for the Ukrainian soccer champion FC Dynamo Kiev and a dancer for the popular Ukrainian rock band Vopli Videopliasova. In addition to her training, she served as a gymnastics instructor and choreography trainer at Ukrainian Olympic-level training schools. She then joined the Belarusian State Circus, where she performed aerial acrobatics. Sasha is a skilled choreographer. Recently, she choreographed the routine that won the High Gold Champions Award at the International Dance Challenge.

Laura Fields (Team Coach)

Laura joined Exxcel in 2003 and works with our XCel team. Laura was a competitive gymnast for 8 years during which she was a MA State champion and National TOPS qualifier. She has coached many state champions. During college at UMass, she won Best All Around on her cheerleading team. Laura led her team to a 3rd place finish at Nationals. She received her degree in 2008 in Marketing.

Kristin Cerrato (Team Coach)

Kristin began instructing gymnasts at Exxcel in 1999 and has grown to be a highly respected member of our coaching staff. As a competitive gymnast of eight years, Kristin won two State Championships and competed in regional competitions. Since that time, Kristin has earned a B.S. in Education with an emphasis in elementary education.

Asya Sutbayeva (Team Coach)

Asya has been a coach at Exxcel since 2010. She has a degree in Master of Sport for Artistic Acrobatics. Asya was a member of the Kazakhstan National Team. She has been an accomplished gymnastics coach for over 17 years. Her students are medalists at International Competitions including, World Championships, Asian Championships, and National Championships. She was selected to be an International judge from 2001-2008.

Jorge Giraldo (Team Coach)

Jorge joined Exxcel in 2016. He was a member of the Columbian National Team and competed in the Olympic Games in 2004, 2008 and 2012. Jorge brings an immense amount of knowledge and experience to our team gymnasts. He competed not only in three Olympics but numerous Pan American, Pacific Rims and South American Games earning many Gold medals. Jorge has an element in the FIG Code of points named after him!

Rani Jacobson (Team Coach)

Rani began working at Exxcel after being an athlete here for many years. After competing for Exxcel and winning various State titles, Rani went on to compete for Newton North High School and then for Ithaca College. Rani is a certified judge for the Mens program for the state of Massachusetts. Rani is now coaching our Xcel teams.

Jojo Leveroni (Team Coach)

Jojo began coaching at Exxcel in 2016. After being a competitive gymnast for many years, Jojo was a 5 year member of the undefeated Barnstable Junior/High School gymnastics team. She is currently a student at Boston College where she is a member of the Cheerleading team.

Christine Curran (Preschool Program Director)

Christine has been employed at Exxcel since 2003. She has been teaching preschool gymnastics for over 15 years. She has earned her Kinder Accreditation for Teachers (KAT) as well as a certificate in Movement Education Lesson Plan Development (MELPD). Her love and passion for working with children has helped our program to grow and thrive.

Amy Brubaker Donahue (PreSchool Coach)

Amy has been teaching at Exxcel for 9 years and has been teaching gymnastics for over thirty years. She holds a degree in Biology and secondary teaching certification from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Though she enjoys teaching children of all ages, she has a soft spot for our youngest gymnasts and loves to create a fun and fantasy filled environment for her students. "The most productive learning happens when the kids are engaged, challenged, and having a grand time," says Amy. "If that means turning a gym mat into a Pirate ship or inventing songs on the spot to teach colors or motor awareness, I am happy to oblige!"

Maggie Kochyieva (Coach)

Maggie joined Exxcel in 2017. She holds a B/S in Psychology and enjoys working with our preschool and recreational classes. Maggie has been involved in the sport of gymnastics for many years and also plays a major role in our vacation and summer camps. We are happy to have Maggie.

Bernardo Montes (Coach)

Bernardo has been working at Exxcel since 2013. He began his gymnastics career at a summer program call Jamnastics first as a “coach in training” and working his way up to teaching both hip hop and gymnastics in public schools in Cambridge and Boston. Along with his extensive gymnastics background, Bee has experience with cheerleading and a passion for Parkour, something he has done his whole life. He calls himself a “dare devil.” Bee opened up a Parkour class in 2006 that expanded into a company call Boston Parkour Academy. Currently, he is a recreational gymnastics and tumbling coach.

Trevor Flynn Alling (Coach)

Trevor has been involved in gymnastics since age 9, and competed alongside Marlborough High School's team due to Nashoba Regional's lack of a program. He has been a highly competitive breakdancer and martial artist since 2001, and still judges and performs at events across New England. He become a dedicated coach during college, while earning his Exercise Science degree at Fitchburg State University. He also has much cheerleading experience, having cheered for Fitchburg State University, the Boston Celtics as a member of the Green Team, and 10 years of all star competitive cheer for teams such as East Elite. Trevor has coached many cheerleading teams including Bentley University, Brandeis University, and Harvard University. He is also an acrodunker and has performed for the Boston Celtics dunk team for three+ years. He has twelve years of gymnastics coaching experience, and become a member of the Exccel staff in 2010. Trevor coaches boys and girls recreational gymnastics and tumbling.

Lana Kodysh (Coach)

Lana has been teaching at Exxcel since 1998. Lana studied gymnastics for four years at her university and two years in her “sport school.” In addition to her gymnastics background, she has eight years of training in acrobatics in a circus studio setting. She has received multiple awards for her participation in circus shows. She worked at two alpinist’s camps in Pamirs and Caucasus. Lana is USAG certified.

Catarina Broccoli (Coach)

Catarina has been in competitive gymnastics since she was little, and was a competitor on the UNH Gymnastics team for four years. She majored in Nutrition, and was a solid competitor on the balance beam and floor exercise. Cat has been a coach for six years, and helps out with the recreational and Exxcel competitive team.

Vicky Perez (Coach)

Vicky grew up in Bogota – Colombia, and came to the USA in 2016. She has been involved in sports for over 25 years. She was a competitive gymnast and part of Colombia’s gymnastics team. After that, she left gymnastics and started participating in finswimming. She holds the Pan American records in some races. Her highest achievements include winning a bronze medal in the 2015 World Championships in Yantai, China and participating in the World Games in 2009 (Kaohsiung – Taiwan) and in 2013 (Cali – Colombia). Vicky loves children and sports and believes that being involved in a sport allows you to have a better way of life and gives you beautiful challenges to make you a better person.

Nicole Batakis (Rock Climbing & Ninja Warrior Director)

Nicole has been working with Exxcel since 2011 as a rock climbing instructor and Program Director. Nicole graduated from Mount Ida College in 2015 with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Entrepreneurship. Her background in collegiate sports and leadership as a multi-sport athlete and captain adds great value to help students learn how to take the lead in and outside of class. Nicole is a certified climbing wall and is a proud professional member of (AMGA) American Mountain Guide Association with continuing education in outdoor recreation and leadership.

Karen Roach (Office Manager)

Karen has been working at Exxcel since 2006. Karen began working at Exxcel as one of our day time office staff and has been our Office Manager since 2010. In her spare time, Karen enjoys spending time with her children and grandchild.

Susan Ham (Birthday Party Director)

Susan has been at Exxcel since 1998. Susan's daughter was a member of the Exxcel team for many years as well. Sue has held various positions while at Exxcel and is currently our Birthday Party Director.